tsuru-kame

picked this one up in some funky shop in Osaka/Shinsaibashi that sold mostly womens clothing, lots of funky hippy jewelry, incense, and other weird stuff. lucky for me they had a small section of guy-looking clothing (although it's pretty hard to tell sometimes in Japan).

this is only one of many shirts i have that feature my amphibious, half-shelled brethren...but this one also has a tsuru (crane) on the front. the significance of this, i've been told, is that both creatures represent longevity and good luck in Japanese culture, and are commonly depicted together in scenes to illustrate the famous saying: "as the Crane one thousand years, as the Tortoise ten thousand years."

i'd always known the tortoise represented longevity etc...but this was the first time i'd heard this saying involving the crane as well. interesting...





(1000 years...)



(and 10,000 years x 4!)

(oh yeah, "kame" is Japanese for turtle/tortoise)